A Fantastic Start to What is Hopefully a Series
I received an ARC of Threads That Bind from BookishFirst, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
What an absolute joy reading Threads That Bind was. Though quick, there was so much packed in that it felt like I read something much longer, in a good way, though. There was so much that happened, but it all connected in the end in a way that I wasn't expecting but had been building the entire time.
I loved the magic system that Kika Hatzopoulou created for this book. It was obviously taken from mythology, specifically Greek, but it was still completely unique. Though perhaps some of the powers weren't explained quite as well as I would have hoped, there was still enough information to get the gist of what was going on without feeling like I was lost. I found it interesting that the siblings of this world only inherited power from sibling gods, which was where a lot of the uniqueness came in. While most magic systems based on mythology tend to try and incorporate everything, the author had a specific focus, and I thought it was very well done. It would have likely gotten confusing if people were running around everywhere with every power imaginable, so I appreciated the specificity.
I was skeptical about the whole fate-thread thing, which essentially linked Io to her soulmate. I'm not usually a fan of predestined or instant love, but it was handled well. Io was aware of what was happening but also let the feelings come naturally, which I enjoyed. It was nice to see a female character who was mindful of what was happening and could recognize if she was going too far or being obsessive. It was extremely refreshing.
I only have a complaint about the ending and how everything wrapped up. I didn't understand how we got to the end. All the pieces came together for the characters, but I felt I was missing some critical information because the dots weren't connecting. Obviously, everything worked out in the end, for the most part, but I didn't understand how we got to that point. Whatever trail Io followed, I was not part of it and got lost in whatever information I was supposed to have received. Perhaps I didn't process it correctly, but I felt the ending was hard to follow.
Despite that, I am ready for the next book. While I haven't seen any announcements yet if there will be another, the ending was set up for one, and I would absolutely read it if it came out.
What an absolute joy reading Threads That Bind was. Though quick, there was so much packed in that it felt like I read something much longer, in a good way, though. There was so much that happened, but it all connected in the end in a way that I wasn't expecting but had been building the entire time.
I loved the magic system that Kika Hatzopoulou created for this book. It was obviously taken from mythology, specifically Greek, but it was still completely unique. Though perhaps some of the powers weren't explained quite as well as I would have hoped, there was still enough information to get the gist of what was going on without feeling like I was lost. I found it interesting that the siblings of this world only inherited power from sibling gods, which was where a lot of the uniqueness came in. While most magic systems based on mythology tend to try and incorporate everything, the author had a specific focus, and I thought it was very well done. It would have likely gotten confusing if people were running around everywhere with every power imaginable, so I appreciated the specificity.
I was skeptical about the whole fate-thread thing, which essentially linked Io to her soulmate. I'm not usually a fan of predestined or instant love, but it was handled well. Io was aware of what was happening but also let the feelings come naturally, which I enjoyed. It was nice to see a female character who was mindful of what was happening and could recognize if she was going too far or being obsessive. It was extremely refreshing.
I only have a complaint about the ending and how everything wrapped up. I didn't understand how we got to the end. All the pieces came together for the characters, but I felt I was missing some critical information because the dots weren't connecting. Obviously, everything worked out in the end, for the most part, but I didn't understand how we got to that point. Whatever trail Io followed, I was not part of it and got lost in whatever information I was supposed to have received. Perhaps I didn't process it correctly, but I felt the ending was hard to follow.
Despite that, I am ready for the next book. While I haven't seen any announcements yet if there will be another, the ending was set up for one, and I would absolutely read it if it came out.